1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a musical instrument having an instrument body in which a box-shaped sound generation unit is accommodated.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a musical instrument has been known that has a body thereof accommodating a box-shaped sound generation unit, which is adapted to generate a sound when a performance operator is operated. For example, a musical instrument having a body thereof accommodating a resonance box is disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. H04-212994. This musical instrument is configured to be a keyboard type and the resonance box is disposed close to tone plates. When any one of keys is operated, a corresponding tone plate is struck by a corresponding hammer, and the struck tone plate vibrates to produce a musical tone that resonates in the resonance box and is emitted as a sound to the outside via openings formed in the instrument body.
In the foregoing prior art musical instrument, however, musical tones generated by tone plates are attenuation sounds that themselves are monotonous, and it is not possible to give variety to sounds (for example, variety in sound volume) produced by resonation in the resonance box. As a result, musical performance is likely to be monotonous, and therefore, there is a room to make improvements to offer a wide variety of performances.